Since Aug. 5, 33 workers in the San José mine in Chile have been trapped several thousand feet below ground following a cave-in. While it was initially assumed that they died in the disaster, a drill discovered the miners alive on Aug. 22. Since then, their heroic efforts to survive have been spun into a feel-good story meant to divert attention from the criminal system responsible for the tragedy.
 Trapped miners in Chile |
The sole aim of capitalism is to maximize profits. The safety and general well-being of workers is never a genuine priority for those in positions of economic and political power. Acting in accordance with the rules of the capitalist system, Alejandro Bohn and Marcelo Kemeny, the owners of the San José mine, sent workers into a situation they knew was completely unsafe.
After several workers died in 2006 and 2007, the Chilean government, under union pressure, ordered the closure of the San José mine. However, mining resumed in 2008, even though a key piece of safety equipment that would have saved the 33 trapped workers was not installed. In July, the country’s Labor Department identified a number of hazards after a miner was maimed in a rockfall.
As if their gross negligence were not enough, the mine owners claimed that they did not have enough money to pay the trapped miners’ salaries. This turned out to be a complete lie, and $2 million worth of assets were frozen as a result of a suit filed on behalf of the victims’ families.
In every nation where capitalism prevails workplace safety is routinely ignored as bosses focus all their energy and resources into exploiting workers to the greatest extent possible. Only a planned economy under a workers’ government can prioritize the needs of poor and working people and put an end to the kind of disasters that trapped the miners in Chile.
